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>We were in central Oregon last week. Amongst the various fun activities we hiked along the famed Metolius River.
To one who has been long in city pent,
‘Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven, – to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.~John Keats, Sonnet XIV
“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”
~ spoken by a fourth grader, reported in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
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>This past weekend we hiked up Spencer Butte with some friends from out of town. It was cold but beautiful. We saw some folks from the Obsidians doing trail maintenance. And, on our way down, we passed a large group of sorority women on their way up (some looked happy, others looked like they were wondering why they were there). Our big concern for the hike was poison oak, but I think we did okay.
On the trail in a typical NW forest
There is nothing like getting outdoors, especially with family and friends. It is amazing to see how much the kids thrive when in nature. I’m loving the change of seasons.
>Back in November we decided to watch the NCAA Cross Country Western Regionals which took place at the Springfield Country Club just outside of Springfield, Oregon. I look for opportunities to get my kids face-to-face with these kinds of events – plus I love them myself. I brought along my wife’s Flip camera to try it out.
You will see Oregon’s newcomer, Jordan Hasay, getting second place in the women’s race. I predict big things for her at Oregon – of course, so do a lot of other people.
You can see it in HD. Once it starts playing find the “360p” at the bottom of the video and chose “720p” instead.
I would have posted this video months ago but Windows Movie Maker, which allowed me to edit the thing just fine, did not allow me to publish it because of a file type (.AVI) conflict. Finally I found Windows Live Movie Maker which can handle the file type. However, my titles and edits did not import exactly perfect and I don’t want to take the time to fix them. So it’s not perfect, but it never was anyway.
>…literally.
Posting has come slow lately due to a new arrival in our family which has rearranged some priorities. Atticus Roux was born on February 15th, bright eyed and bushy tailed. We are overjoyed and a little tired. Our girls are smitten. Finally I am not the only male (excluding the dog) in the fam any more.
>This blog is just over three year’s old. Since starting it I had also joined FaceBook, and then Twitter. Life continues, of course, in its typically unpredictable way and I have become drawn towards unplugging myself somewhat from the online life. I have deactivated my FB account and deleted my Twitter account. I also plan on posting less here, though I won’t quit entirely.
The reasons are many and have been just below the surface for some time. In short it is just the need to de-clutter my life and get on with other things. There are many things I would rather do than fritter and waste my life looking for distractions. I can’t predict that by unplugging more from the Internet (and other things) I will finally write that book I’ve always wanted to write, or get in shape and climb a mountain, but I can say that maybe, just maybe I will spend more time with my wife and kids. Maybe I will find more and more little ways to be productive rather than merely receptive.
The fact is, when I look at my life, and I look at those things I most am proud of, they always seem to be things I’ve very consciously done, things that took effort, commitment, even a little obsession. I have a list of things I want to do, or characteristics/talents I want to develop, and I know that to do so means simplifying my life and removing distractions. I am tired of constantly wishing to do things and then finding instead I’ve wasted a couple of hours online (or a couple of years!).
There is so much more value in talking over beers with a friend at a local pub than there is in “connecting” via any social networking site yet created. There is far more value in taking my kids camping or skiing than checking Google Reader for updates. And, of course, spending more time with my wife doing the hard work of living “as one” rather than just two hard working people moving along parallel paths is invaluable. Each of us sitting at our own screens surfing or blogging or updating our profiles just doesn’t quite cut it anymore (it never really did).
Fortunately I am not the only person seeing these things or choosing to declutter. Now, this doesn’t mean I’m giving up my online life entirely, but I hope to be more focused elsewhere.
>Over the Thanksgiving holiday we were in Portland and went the the Zoo Lights which is, of course, as the zoo.
This video was captured with a Flip HD camera and edited in Windows Movie Maker.
>Today is a day of celebration for me and my little family. I celebrate my beautiful wife’s LIFE. On this day one year ago she was struck by an SUV while walking on the sidewalk near our home. I wrote about it then. From that moment on our lives (and especially her’s) have not been the same. Weeks in the hospital, then hospital bed at home, then months of physical therapy, continuing pains, and all the rest of life (wife, mother, homeschool teacher, and pregnant again) have been her existence. For the rest of our lives November 17th will continue to bring back the memories of near tragedy and great pain. But this day is also a day of great thanks. I am so thankful that Maricel is still with us and thriving. I am so blessed to have her as my wife, and our daughters are so blessed to have her as their mother. That she is with us, that our family is whole and growing, makes this season that much more joyful.
pilgrimakimbo 